Corn, Zea mays L., is grown for many reasons including its use in food and industrial applications. Corn oil and corn meal are two of many useful products derived from corn.
Commercial processing plants utilizing conventional methods for extracting corn oil from normal yellow #2 corn separate the corn seed into its component parts, e.g., endosperm, germ, tipcap, and pericarp, and then extract corn oil from the corn germ fraction. Corn germ produced by wet or dry milling is processed either by pressing the germ to remove the oil or by flaking the germ and extracting the oil with a solvent. In both processes, because the germ was separated from the remainder of the kernel, many or all of the valuable components of the endosperm fraction are absent from the oil.
A corn-based feed product known as hominy feed is obtained from the dry milling process and is a mixture of corn bran, corn germ, and endosperm, and has a minimum of about 3% by weight oil. Several steps, including cracking, grinding, sieving, and blending are required to manufacture hominy feed and the resulting particle size of hominy feed is small relative to meal made by the extraction method described herein.
Industry and health advocates are continually in search of more nutritious products derived from corn, since products derived from normal yellow #2 corn lack some desired nutritional components. Thus, there exists a need for improved products derived from corn oil and corn meal. Additionally, there exists a need for new processes for processing the corn.